Breakthrough Pushes EDGE To 3G Speeds

'Dual Carrier EDGE Solution' is a software upgrade breakthrough made by Nokia Siemens Networks which claims to push data speeds up to 592Kbps - putting it on par with low end 3G/HSPDA mobile broadband offerings.

The solution will also be available to all interested networks from Q3 2008 after which Nokia Siemens will focus on 'EGPRS 2' - a further evolution of the EDGE standard which will result in theoretical download and uploads speeds of 1.2Mbps and 473Kbps respectively.

"By 2015, we expect to live in a broadband-IP world with five billion people ‘always on' and therefore Nokia Siemens Networks is committed to protecting customer investments and continue to implement leading EDGE technology," said Ari Lehtoranta, Head of Radio Access Business Unit for Nokia Siemens Networks. "Dual Carrier software upgrade is an easy and extremely cost efficient step to bring broadband user experience to GSM/EDGE networks."

Sadly Nokia Siemens didn't go on to say whether Dual Carrier will be compatible with existing EDGE devices, but its silence on such a huge selling point is ominous. Still, with handsets these days readily accepting firmware upgrades let's not write off the idea completely.